Tanner s tool



(No Model.)

P. S. CONNOR.

I TANNERS T00'L.. No. 427,555. Patented May 13, 1890.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PATRICK S. CONNOR, OF LAKE, ILLINOIS.

TANNERS TOOL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 427,555, dated May 13,1890.

Application filed May 16, 1888. Serial New 1,111, (N0 model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK S. CONNOR, a citizen of the United States,residing in the town of Lake, county of Cook, State of Illinois, haveinvented an Improvement in Tanners Tools, of which the followingdescription, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention relates to tanners tools of a form approximating tongs andof the class used in handling hides or skins in vats or used in removingthem therefrom after gripping thereby. It consists in the variouscombinations of parts as embraced in the claims.

Implements have heretofore been used for handling the hides or skins invats, in which devices a hooked projection served to catch under aportion or within a fold thereof, and then by drawing or lifting on theimplement by means of its handle the hides or skins were taken out ofthe vat; but an objection thereto has been that the part or partsengaging the hides or skins have frequently bruised or broken theirtexture, thus reducing the grade of the leather made therefrom.

\Vhen the device has been of a gripping order, an injury to the articlegrasped thereby often resulted, because of the hard texture of thecompressing surfaces of the tool. I11 my invention I overcome thisobjection by formin g a tanners tool after the general shape of a pairof blacksmiths tongs and providing the grippingsurfaces, or, in otherWords, each of the inner faces of the jaws, with a strong and. durableelastic substance that will serve to grasp the hides or skins andsecurely adhere thereto under moderate pressure, and that at the sametime will not bruise orotherwise injure them.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of my tanners tool orimplement, formed (in a measure) like a pair of blacksmit-hs tongs, buthaving its gripping-surfaces, or the inner parts of the jaws, providedwith elastic pads or disks securelyfastened thereto. Fig. 2 is across-section through one of the arms to which the elastic pads areattached and bisecting the pad or disk.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts throughout.

The arms A and B of my tanners tongshaped tool are connected bya pivot C1n the manner commonly practiced in blaeksmiths tongs. The'said arms arestrong and rigid, so that they will not bend or yield under any ordinarypress ure to which they are subjected in use. [lhe extreme end portionof the handle part of one of the arms, as B, is bent to form a crook b,to serve as a hand-hold in drawing on the tool to lift the articlegripped in its jaws, as a hide or skin, in handling it in or removing itfrom a vat.

D D are india-rubber disks secured to the inner or gripping faces of thetool. These disks D are preferably formed concave, and have sharpcorners at the outer edges of their inner or grasping faces, as clearlyshown in Fig. 2.

E E are headed screw-bolts by which. the rubber disks are secured to thegripping faces of the tongs.

F F are metal washers (one being shown in section in Fig. 2) usedbeneath the heads of the screw-bolts and resting upon portions of therubber disks within recesses (Z, formed in said disks, the said boltspassing through holes in the center of the disks and screwing into holesin the arms of the'tongs. The headed screw-bolts are notched, as at e,for the reception of the end of a screw-driver in screwing or unscrewingthe said bolts.

The manner of using the tool is like that of using tongs of the samegeneral pattern, the hides or skins being seized between the elasticgripping pads or disks through pressure applied by the hand on thehandle parts of the arms, the crooked or bent end of one of the armsaifording a hold for pulling while the handle portions of the arms aregrasped. The rubber disks, being of larger extent of surface than theends of the arms to which they are secured, prevent the iron frame partsof the tool from inj uring the hides or skins. Said disks are preferablyof circular form, but may be of any approximate suitable shape, ashexagonal, 850.

Not infrequently are the tender surfaces of the hides or skins damagedby merely laying down the tool upon them as they lie around about thevat. In some cases they are injured in the attempt to seize them in thevat or by side movements and endwise thrusts of the tool among them.

' In a tool of the form I have constructed the liability of injury fromthe aforesaid practices or movements is diminished, the projectingelastic disk serving to cover the solid frame-work of the tool to aconsiderable degree at its gripping end, while affording yielding-j awfaces for gripping said hides or skins.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim as new anduseful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A tanners tool consisting of the pivoted arms A and B, provided attheir grasping ends with rubber disks D, having the recesses (Z, thescrews E, securing the said disks to said arms and having heads oflesser thickness than the depth of said recesses, and the washers F insaid recesses beneaththe heads of said screws, substantially as setforth.

2. A tanners tool consisting of the pivoted arms A and B, one of whichis provided with the hand-hold Z), said arms being provided at theirgrasping ends with rubber disks D, having the recesses d, the screws E,securing the said disks to said arms and having heads of lesserthickness than the depth of said recesses, and the washers F in saidrecesses be- ,neath the heads of said screws, substantially as setforth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PATRICK S. CONNOR. Vitnesses:

FRANK ONEIL, WILLIAM II. CHADSEY.

